Joy Harjo's Web Log

Taos Summer Writers' Conference
The University of New Mexico,
Department of English Language and Literature – MSC 03 2170
1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
505-277-6248 505-277-5573 (fax) taosconf@unm.edu


Contact: Sharon Oard Warner, 277-6248
Kate Fitzgerald, 277-5572

April 8, 2006
WRITERS’ CONFERENCE OFFERS AWARDS FOR NATIVE AMERICAN AND HISPANIC WRITERS
Applications postmarked by May 1

The Native Writer Award and the Hispanic Writer Award will be offered again this year at the University of New Mexico’s eighth annual Taos Summer Writers’ Conference. These awards offer New Mexico residents the cost of Conference tuition and lodging. The Conference, set for July 8-14 at the Sagebrush Inn and Conference Center, is sponsored by the Creative Writing Program and the Department of English at UNM.
Writing workshops make up the core of the Conference. Topics for 2006 include the novel, short fiction, poetry, memoir, writing for social change, screenwriting, and publishing. The program also includes readings, special events, morning yoga classes, and evening faculty readings free and open to the public.
Faculty for 2006 include Anya Achtenberg, Amy Beeder, Lisa D. Chávez, Jeff Davis, John Dufresne, Emily Forland, Greg Glazner, Pam Houston, Susan Lang, Matthew McDuffie, Julie Mars, Demetria Martinez, Barbara Robinette Moss, Daniel Mueller, Loida Maritza Pérez, Hilda Raz, Diane Thiel, Lisa Tucker, Judith Van Gieson, and Wendy Weil.
The Native Writer Award, sponsored by Joy Harjo, was established in 2003 in the memory of Louis Owens and is available to one Native American resident of New Mexico. The Hispanic Writer Award, sponsored by Robert Anderson, is open to any New Mexico resident of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish heritage. Both awards provide the cost of tuition for one weekend or one week-long workshop and paid lodging. Both are based on writing samples, which need to be postmarked by May 1. Writers may apply for the Hispanic Writer Award or Native Writer Award prior to registering for the Conference. Winners of these three awards will be announced by May 15.
Writers from across the U. S., Canada, and even Australia and Africa attend the Taos Summer Writers' Conference. Sharon Oard Warner, novelist and director of the UNM Creative Writing Program, founded and directs the Conference. “The Conference is designed to be inclusive rather than exclusive, and so we welcome beginning as well as advanced writers,” says Warner. “Writers are part of a community that stretches back though time. The Taos conference offers an opportunity to come together and learn from one another, to honor our past and to re-imagine our future.”
For information, call Director Sharon Oard Warner, 505-277-6248, or Assistant Director Kate Fitzgerald, 505-277-5572.

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Conference Contact

Sharon Oard Warner
277-6248 (W), 890-1421 (H)
swarner@unm.edu
--Author of Deep in the Heart (novel)
--Associate Professor of English, University of New Mexico
--Director, Creative Writing Program, UNM
--Director, Taos Summer Writers' Conference

Kate Fitzgerald
277-5572 (W)
katefitz@unm.edu
-- Program Coordinator, UNM English Department
-- Assistant Director, Taos Summer Writer’s Conference